Scene from 2013 commencement at CSUN. Photo by Lee Choo.

Nearly 10,000 students are expected to walk across a California State University, Northridge stage and receive the congratulations of their faculty and university officials, including CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, as the university celebrates its 2014 commencement ceremonies.

An estimated 9,999 students — 7,647 bachelor’s, 2,325 master’s and 27 doctoral degree candidates — are eligible to take part in the ceremonies scheduled to begin the evening of Friday, May 16, with the university’s Honors Convocation.

“Commencement is a special time at a university,” Harrison said. “I am looking forward to the opportunity to join with the students and their families and friends in celebration of what is always a momentous and joyous occasion. Throughout the year, I have enjoyed interacting with many students and learning about their outstanding work in the classroom and in the community. Honors Convocation and the commencement ceremonies give me a formal setting in which to celebrate our students’ accomplishments.”

There will be seven graduation exercises over the course of four days. CSUN’s commencement celebration begins at 6 p.m. on May 16 with the Honors Convocation on the lawn in front of the Delmar T. Oviatt Library. This year’s speaker will be alumnus Keith Weaver, executive vice president of worldwide government affairs for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Weaver, who earned a bachelor’s in journalism in 1996 and a master’s in public administration in 2007 from CSUN, oversees all aspects of Sony’s government relations and public policy activities, as well as community affairs. He has been with the company since June 2002, when he joined as vice president of government affairs, and served as senior vice president from October 2005 until being named executive vice president in September 2011.

Last year, Weaver was elected chair of the California State Film Commission and has served as vice chair of the Board of Neighborhood Commissions for the City of Los Angeles. Additionally, he serves on the boards of the Exceptional Children’s Foundation; Genesis LA Economic Growth Corporation; Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs; Providence Health and Services Community Ministry Board; and Slavery No More.

The commencement ceremony for the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication will take place at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 19, on the Oviatt Library lawn. The College of Health and Human Development’s ceremony will be take place at 6 p.m. that day on the lawn.

The graduation ceremony for undergraduates from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences will take place at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 21, on the Oviatt Library lawn. The ceremony for the master’s candidates from that college has been combined with the graduation ceremonies for the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Science and Mathematics, which will take place at 6 p.m. on May 21 on the Oviatt Library lawn.

The university’s commencement exercises will culminate on Thursday, May 22, with the ceremony for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at 8 a.m. on the Oviatt Library lawn, as well as the ceremonies for the College of Humanities and Michael D. Eisner College of Education at 6 p.m. in the same location.

An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters will be bestowed on William C. “Bill” Allen, president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, during the ceremony for the Nazarian College.

In addition to his work with the development corporation, Allen is the 2012 board chair of Film L.A., vice chair of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and board secretary for the Valley Presbyterian Hospital. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Weingart Foundation, International Economic Development Council, California Stewardship Network, Regional Economic Association Leaders of California Coalition, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs, Unite L.A. and the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

Active in regional economic development for more than a decade, Allen was the first CEO of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, from 1996-2000, and, in 2000, was named California’s Civic Entrepreneur of the Year by the California Center for Regional Leadership. While at the Economic Alliance, Allen raised more than $5 million and assembled an unprecedented public-private partnership involving all of the leading cities, colleges and business organizations in the San Fernando Valley. Under his guidance, the alliance launched programs to expand international trade, improve local education and workforce development and developed viable solutions to regional transportation challenges.

After spending most days at a desk staring at a computer, do you have the skills to survive the zombie apocalypse? What market forces are at play when “Twilight’s” Bella and Edward make eyes at each other, or which influence the fate of “True Blood’s” Sookie and Eric?

Those are just some of the questions California State University, Northridge economics professor Glen Whitman and finance professor James Dow explore in their new book, “Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science.”

The pair capitalize on popular culture’s fascination with the undead — from “The Vampire Diaries” and “True Blood” to “The Strain” and “The Walking Dead” — to help people understand economic systems, big and small.

Whitman and Dow noted that undead characters have terrified popular audiences for centuries, but when analyzed closely, their behaviors, however far-fetched, mirror the living’s in surprising ways.

“The book assumes that the reader has no prior knowledge of economics,” Dow said. “We figured that people can learn a little bit about economics in an interesting way.”

“Economics of the Undead” grew out of a shared love for the cult classic television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and a conundrum inspired by one of the show’s characters sneaking away to pay a vampire to suck his blood for the thrill.

“We thought, ‘Really? Wouldn’t the vampires pay the humans?’” Whitman said. “That got us thinking about vampires and zombies from an economic perspective.”

After kicking the idea around for a while, the pair invited colleagues from across the country — mostly economists, but also a couple of lawyers and literature professors — to seriously explore some of the basic economic issues raised by a world that included the undead.

Addressing the question of whether humans would pay vampires to suck their blood, Whitman said it turns on the relative size of vampire demand and human supply.

Glen Whitman

“Who pays whom? It depends on how much humans want to thrill-seek versus how much vampires need the blood,” Whitman said. “Another factor is how many vampires there are compared to humans, and whether it’s easier for vampires to buy the blood or take it by force.”

That availability, the number of humans versus number of vampires also factors into the latest trend — at least according to television, movies and pop fiction — of human girls dating vampire boys.

“Society has clearly evolved a great deal since the late 1800s, when the romantic relationships between Count Dracula and Lucy Westenra led a small group of fanatics to stake her, behead her, and stuff her mouth with garlic before tracking down Dracula himself,” Whitman notes in the book’s first chapter, “Human Girls and Vampire Boys, Part 1: Looking for Mr. Goodbite.” “Until recently, romantic relationships between the living and the dead were regarded with sheer horror. But Buffy, Bella, Sookie and Elena have blazed a trail that many young women are eager to follow. The human-vampire dating scene is taking off.

“Despite its unusual features, the mating market shares key features with other markets. The most salient of these is competition,” the chapter continues. “In general, more competition on the other side of the market is good for you… If vampire boys outnumber the human girls on the market, even an average girl has a chance of snagging a truly sparkly vamp.”

James Dow

Dow, in his chapter “Packing for the Apocalypse,” ponders what we need to bring with us in a world filled with zombies. He points out that while weight and volume don’t really factor into our decisions today, they matter a great deal once the world has succumbed to zombie domination.

Given that, and a thoughtful assessment of what skills might be needed post-zombie apocalypse, Dow concludes that he’ll be packing a portable distillery.

“Let’s face it, after the world has passed through a zombie apocalypse and civilization as we know it has collapsed, it’s probably alcohol that will be in popular demand,” Dow writes in the chapter.

Whitman’s chapter “Tragedy of the Blood Commons: The Case for the Privatizing of Humans” draws on the premise set out in the 2009 movie “Daybreakers,” where vampires dominate the world and there’s a dwindling blood supply. The chapter explores possible answers to global resource concerns, including the problems associated with overfishing.

“We have 10 percent of the large ocean fish that we had a century ago,” Whitman said. “Economics isone way to assess the situation and explore the question of why is it that when people demand more fish, it causes fewer fish to be in the ocean, yet when people demand more chicken, we get more chickens raised on farms.”

To illustrate why fish dwindle while chickens do not Whitman tells the story of the vampire Reynaldo He captures a woman to feed on and discovers she is pregnant. The character debates letting her go, in hopes that in the future, he’ll have two meals instead of one. However, there’s a possibility that another vampire may find her and enjoy the feast instead. So, he consumes the woman immediately

“The book can be beneficial as an educational tool,” Whitman said, noting that he and Dow have created a website for the book, http://econundead.com/, which includes a course guide for educators. “But the secret is, the book was put together by a couple of nerds who love zombies and vampires and wanted to look at them through an economic lens.”

“As for the goals for the readers?” Dow added with a chuckle. “Maybe they’ll learn something about how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.”

David Nazarian (right) speaks with students at Hillel House on Sept. 23.

Hillel, the organization for Jewish student life on campus, honored alumnus David Nazarian ’82 (Business) last week for his recent major gift to California State University, Northridge’s college of business and economics. The Hillel House hosted a reception Sept. 23 that featured elected officials and campus leaders — and provided an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to mingle with Nazarian, founder and CEO of Nimes Capital.

In March, CSUN announced that Nazarian had pledged to help lead a $25 million fundraising drive and launched that effort with a $10 million cash gift. In recognition of his gift and pledge of continued support, the university has named its college of business the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.

Last week’s Hillel reception in his honor fell one day before the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and many of the speakers reflected on new beginnings and strengthening the Jewish, campus and wider communities.

“What David has done with the college of business here is the perfect example of someone who cares not just for the Jewish community, but cares for the wider community as well,” said Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, where Nazarian and his wife, Angella, are active philanthropists.

State Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Van Nuys, who noted his pride in having CSUN and Hillel in his district, presented Nazarian with a certificate of recognition from the state assembly.

“CSUN is putting out business leaders and has a proud tradition of business alumni,” Dababneh said. “David, I thank you for what you’re doing for this campus, and for your commitment to the college of business.”

Congressman Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, also congratulated Nazarian and presented him with an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol.

Nazarian talked with students, faculty and well wishers during the late afternoon reception and spoke briefly, thanking the crowd for honoring him. He noted the important role Hillel has played in the lives of his sons, who celebrated Rosh Hashana last week as students at Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania.

“We as a family have always taken pride in our Jewish heritage,” he said. “We believe in the power of tikkun olam (“repair of the world”). When my parents came to this country, they rebuilt their lives.

“CSUN has been very close to my heart, not only because it gave me a basis for my own business career, but because it has one of the largest Jewish campus populations,” Nazarian added. “One of my hopes is to strengthen the Jewish community on campus and ties to Israel. … As you pay it forward, others will learn from you.”

Other guests of honor included CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison and Ken Lord, dean of the Nazarian College of Business and Economics. Deborah Kallick, incoming chairman of Hillel, praised Nazarian’s support of his alma mater and CSUN’s students. In addition to CSUN, Hillel 818 serves students from Pierce College and Los Angeles Valley College.

Already among the top 10 largest undergraduate business programs in the nation — with a diverse student population that reflects the demographics of California — CSUN will focus the new funding from Nazarian’s gift on expanding its resources and providing its students, faculty and alumni with access to an array of innovative educational programs and experiences.

More information on how to contribute to CSUN and the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics can be found at www.csun.edu/nazarian.

Rabbi David Wolpe (left) of Sinai Temple celebrates at Hillel House on Sept. 23 with Angella and David Nazarian, who are active philanthropists in the congregation. Photo by DJ Hawkins.

Accounting professor Rafi Efrat (left) works with students in CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics to review federal tax procedures. Photo by Lee Choo.

Americans fear few things more than the Internal Revenue Service. Immigrants face even greater fear and confusion when confronting challenges with the IRS, as they strive to navigate a confusing tax code in their new country. Enter California State University, Northridge and the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation.

Launched in 2005 at CSUN with the support of an endowment created by philanthropist and longtime public accountant Harvey Bookstein ’70 (Business Administration) and his wife, Harriet, the institute assists about 130 low-income taxpayers each year — free of charge. The clinic opened in 2008 and is the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County.

“Students really benefit as well,” said Rafi Efrat ’89 (Accounting Theory and Practice), institute director and professor of accounting. “They work as a team, made up of a senior accounting student studying federal tax procedures, and a supervising graduate student. They meet with clients here on campus, gather information and do research on tax issues.”

Faculty member John Balian ’89 B.S., M.S.T. (Accounting Theory and Practice), a former IRS agent, approves each recommendation the students make to their clients, Efrat said. Each student serves about four clients during a semester, and the clinic operates year-round. Clients may be facing an IRS audit or other “controversies” (in taxation parlance) such as wage or pension garnishment, or the need for a payment plan or non-payment status while they regain their financial footing.

Jonathan McCormick, a graduate student supervisor for the clinic, shared the story of one client, Melanie, whose case proved as rewarding for the student clinicians as it did for their client.

“Melanie faced a tax debt of over $27,000 for many years of overdue taxes,” said McCormick, a student in the institute’s master of science in taxation program. “She had already started some of the work herself, so she was not facing collection action by the IRS when she started with the clinic. We resolved this case with an accepted offer in compromise — $639 for a balance due.

“Now the client has received her fresh start,” he said. “As the supervisor for this case, the best lesson was the relief and enjoyment of the clinician when the IRS finally decided to agree to accept the offer in compromise.”

The service is so popular that it has a waiting list, and most clients come to the program by referral from the IRS website or word of mouth.

“There was a clear need — there was no full-service clinic that served low-income taxpayers here,” said Efrat, who recently received the 2014 Outstanding Educator Award from the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. “We have an immigrant population that really doesn’t know how to communicate with the IRS.

“That type of plight leads to so many other problems,” he added. “Being able to help them in that area frees them up to concentrate on other parts of their lives.”

The federal government recognizes the clinic’s community service as well. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has supported the program with matching grants since its inception, this year awarding $70,000 in matching funds. In September, the IRS also recognized the contributions of the Bookstein Institute, presenting Efrat with its Excellence in Partnering Award.

The clinic grew out of the institute’s master of science in taxation program, and many of the graduate students are supported by scholarships from the institute’s endowment. The institute is operated within the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at CSUN.

In addition to the tax clinic, Bookstein Institute graduate students — approximately half of whom are immigrants themselves — travel around Los Angeles presenting workshops in several languages. Popular topics include the earned-income tax credit and payroll tax FAQs for small-business owners. The students offer about 30 workshops each year, reaching about 700 Angelenos.

“We wanted to offer students experiential learning and provide support for community needs,” Efrat said.

CSUN students are embracing the opportunities.

“The tax clinic is a great way to learn a whole different world of tax that most tax practitioners have no experience with,” McCormick said. “The IRS collection process is something that has rules of its own.”

Deborah Cours

California State University, Northridge is collaborating with the world-renowned W. Edwards Deming Institute to present an “Innovation for Success” conference Oct. 17 through Oct. 19 in Van Nuys.

The conference will examine ways to bring creative solutions for success in business and educational structures based on the teachings of visionary scholar W. Edwards Deming. The event is organized by faculty from the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.

Provost and vice president for academic affairs Harry Hellenbrand will be a keynote speaker at the event. His talk will explore how to fix higher education in California. He contends the real problems with higher-education institutions are leadership and creativity based, not monetary based.

Former chair of CSUN’s Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management, Ileana Costea, will also contribute to the conference by mediating a panel on education.

Deborah Cours, director of CSUN’s MBA program and one of the organizers for the conference, explained that the conference will be an opportunity for students and members of the community to explore how Deming’s teachings of innovation can be helpful in creating more efficiency in institutions.

“It’s an intimate conference that has really powerful speakers and real-world examples of people using these academic theories. I think that’s fabulous,” she said.

Deming’s teachings include appreciation for an institution as a system with “interdependent components that work together toward a goal,” and building relationships with people in a system by understanding that they are “motivated by intrinsic needs,” according to the institute’s website.

Cours said CSUN applies these teachings by viewing incentives in student success and looking at the university as an organic organization.

“I think our focus on student success, and the debate about how we measure that and what that means, really ties in well to Deming’s theories,” she said.

The conference will be held at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys. To register for the conference, visit www.deming.org and go to the “Events” section.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Samaha

Marketing strategies in the United States are 55 percent less effective in a global market because of cultural differences, according to research conducted by California State University, Northridge marketing professor Stephen A. Samaha.

The results of Samaha’s research – the effectiveness of various relationship-marketing (RM) strategies in different cultures – were published in the September issue of the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing.

“The United States ranks 13th of 25 countries in terms of the effectiveness of market relationships for enhancing performance,” Samaha said in the study. “The United States is less than half as effective in using RM to drive performance as China.”

The results indicate that using different relationship-marketing strategies based on cultural differences can potentially greatly impact their effectiveness. This is the first study that discusses how one marketing strategy in a certain culture will not always be as effective in another.

“Communication is highly intertwined with culture, and RM research studying the effects of communication should account for culture to prevent misleading findings as well as to help disentangle the mechanisms that generate the complex pattern of results,” according to the study.

Samaha explained that culture has a huge impact on marketing across the globe, and research provides a map for strategists to gain more success across cultures.

“We know that culture matters in marketing. You can’t assume that the same strategy in one culture is going to work in another,” he said. “It gives you a template for understanding how to adopt your marketing strategies to maximize your success.”

His results indicate that relationship-marketing is less effective in cultures with a higher emphasis on individualism, like the U.S., while the opposite is found in cultures with a stronger sense of collectivism, like China.

“Individualism is the most important cultural dimension: it suppresses the effectiveness of many relationship-building strategies (communication, dependence, expertise, and duration) as well as the effect of relationships on performance,” the study said. “Perhaps most notably, relationships increase performance substantially in Asia, where their impact is calculated to be 70 [percent] higher than in the United States.”

Samaha found the effects of individualism on marketing important to working in a continuously more global market.

“One of the interesting things is that individualism has a negative effect on building relationships with customers,” he said. “When you come from a highly individualistic culture it creates more individualistic markets. Managers need to adopt their marketing strategies accordingly.”

The zombie craze has infiltrated legal blogs, college courses and even disease control and prevention, but the work done by two faculty members of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge and their colleagues is the first to bring economic reasoning to bear on the undead phenomenon.

Economics professor Glen Whitman and finance professor James Dow will provide their apocalyptic economic expertise when they discuss their book, “Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires and the Dismal Science,” on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m. at an outdoor signing event between Juniper Hall and Noski Auditorium on the west side of the CSUN campus near Plummer Street and Etiwanda Avenue.

“Economic issues take center stage in many undead narratives — and when they don’t, they’re still lurking in the shadows,” said Whitman and Dow in the book’s introduction. The book has been featured in coverage by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and is the focus of a growing number of online blogs and reviews, as well as a forthcoming episode of “Freakonomics Radio”.

In their book, the duo discuss everything from economics and business law to taxation and other relevant domains for chapters such as “To Truck, Barter…and Eat Brains!!!: Pursuing Prosperity in a Post-productive World,” “Investigating Secrets of the Undead,” “Zombification Insurance,” “Monsters of Capital: Vampires, Zombies and Consumerism,” “Taxation of the Undead: Nonsentient Entities” and “Tragedy of the Blood Commons: The Case for Privatizing the Humans.”

They ask questions such as, “Is there enough food to fill all those hungry mouths? Do humans have the resources, mental and physical, it takes to survive? Will people be able to cooperate with others to fight a collective threat — or will humanity descend into chaos and disorder?”

An expert in microeconomics, applied game theory and economic analysis of law, Whitman has been a member the CSUN faculty since earning his Ph.D. from New York University in 2000 and has numerous publications and scholarly presentations at leading academic conferences to his credit. He is also an active and accomplished television writer, having written for shows “Fringe” and “Matador.”

Dow holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is a former economist for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and chair of CSUN’s Department of Finance, Financial Planning and Insurance. His scholarly work in the areas of household financial management and the institutional economics of financial structure has been widely published.

For more information about the event, visit the Nazarian College’s website.

California State University, Northridge President Dianne F. Harrison and visionary businessman and CSUN alumnus David Nazarian have announced an additional $6 million in gifts toward a $25 million fundraising campaign, launched this past spring with Nazarian’s personal gift of $10 million to support his alma mater and the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. This brings the total committed to date to $16 million.

Among the newest benefactors, all CSUN alumni, are retired Chief Financial Officer for Bank of America and AT&T Charles Noski and his wife, Lisa; Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Public Communications Services Paul Jennings and his wife, Adrienne; retired Artissimo Holdings Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ken Floyd and his wife, Ana; and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer for Aristotle Capital Management Richard Schweitzer and his wife, Julie.

Harrison hailed the new gifts as affirmation of the important role CSUN and the Nazarian College play in the region.

“All this is part of our ongoing elevation of the people, culture and economy of Los Angeles,” she said. “We are rising at a faster pace than ever before, and central to that is the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. The college’s plans for the future have the potential to raise business education to a new level.”

The new gifts were announced at a special event last night.

The campaign to support the Nazarian College, so named by the CSU Board of Trustees to honor Nazarian’s commitment to the university and its students, began in March with a $10 million cash gift from Nazarian and his wife, Angella. Already among the top 10 largest business programs in the nation — with a diverse population that reflects the demographics of California — the Nazarian College will focus the new funding on expanding its resources and providing its students, faculty and alumni with access to an array of innovative educational programs and experiences.

Nazarian, known for his investing acumen, said it was important to invest in a strong public university.

“If there is one factor that I would say is a leading contributor to the health and progress of society, it would be the strength of the middle class,” he said. “A large middle class lowers inequality and brings more stability to a society. Now, what is essential in creating opportunities for mobility in the middle class is education. When we talk about education, we’re really discussing access to affordable and quality education — the type of education I found at CSUN.”

“This is one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to invest in CSUN,” he continued. “The student population of this school holds the key — CSUN serves more than 40,000 students every year, out of which 55 percent are female and close to 75 percent are either minorities or from varying ethnic backgrounds. As you can see, CSUN is counted as one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, where 49 percent of the students are also from low-income families. Yet, findings show that CSUN students exceed expectations in graduation rates and later in alumni earnings.”

Nazarian’s history as a visionary investor and business builder began with his active involvement in his family’s early identification of the potential for wireless communication technology, which ultimately became part of Qualcomm Inc., one of the most successful corporations in the history of the telecommunications industry. Since then, Nazarian, who graduated from CSUN in 1982, has focused on investment opportunities that diversified his family’s holdings, including real estate and the hotel industry.

Nazarian College Dean Kenneth Lord called the latest gifts “transformative.”

“These gifts, and those from many others who have contributed to the college, are ensuring students’ ascendency toward their future,” Lord said. “Thanks to our donors’ generosity and foresight, we are poised to make the changes that will transform the education business students receive, and influence how they will lead the world’s economy.”

Among the changes taking place in CSUN’s business college are the addition of state-of-the-art hardware and software for the analysis and trading of equities, currencies and other tradable instruments, and upgrades to facilities and laboratories for consumer and focus-group research. A variety of other additions include enhanced career-education and professional development services.

The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics serves more than 6,000 undergraduates with a full range of business programs. The Nazarian College also offers a Master of Business Administration program and specialized Master of Science programs in accountancy and taxation. The college is recognized for excellence by multiple external organizations. Its accreditation by AACSB International places it among the top 5 percent of global business degree-granting institutions.

Ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the best part-time MBA programs for three consecutive years, the CSUN MBA stands second among the 23 universities in the California State University system. The college has been recognized in Princeton Review’s list of Best Business Schools for the past seven years. Its recently launched undergraduate curriculum in financial planning immediately acquired national acclaim and has been cited over the past two years as one of the “great schools for future financial planners” by Financial Planning Magazine.

Serving more than 40,000 students each year, CSUN is one of the largest universities in the United States. CSUN ranks 16th in the country in awarding bachelor’s degrees to underrepresented minority students, fifth nationally in awarding master’s degrees to Hispanic students, and enrolls the largest number of deaf and hard-of-hearing students of any U.S. state university. CSUN’s 171 academic programs and engaged centers enjoy international recognition for excellence. CSUN currently partners with more than 100 institutions of higher education in 22 countries around the globe and attracts the largest international student population of any U.S. master’s-level institution. The university is recognized for the opportunities it provides students to climb up the social and economic ladder. CSUN was recently ranked as the fifth-best university in the country for enhancing the social mobility of its students, in a study by Payscale and College Net, and Money Magazine called CSUN one of the “Top Ten Best Values” in the country.

California State University, Northridge President Dianne F. Harrison and visionary businessman and CSUN alumnus David Nazarian have announced an additional $6 million in gifts toward a $25 million fundraising campaign, launched this past spring with Nazarian’s personal gift of $10 million to support his alma mater and the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. This brings the total committed to date to $16 million.

Among the newest benefactors, all CSUN alumni, are retired Chief Financial Officer for Bank of America and AT&T Charles Noski and his wife, Lisa; Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Public Communications Services Paul Jennings and his wife, Adrienne; retired Artissimo Holdings Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ken Floyd and his wife, Ana; and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer for Aristotle Capital Management Richard Schweitzer and his wife, Julie.

The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge has maintained its business accreditation by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a distinction earned by less than 5 percent of the world’s business programs.

Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest-serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in business. AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education.

“It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn and maintain AACSB accreditation,” said Robert D. Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. “Business schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty and professional staff must make a commitment to ongoing continuous improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver the highest quality of education to students.”

A peer-review team of two deans and a provost from other accredited institutions visited the CSUN campus in November as part of the process. Its report praised the Nazarian College for its “dedicated, collegial faculty and staff” and high-quality accounting initiatives, including the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education and Taxation and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The team’s report also lauded the college’s experiential learning opportunities for students and faculty through the Center for Financial Planning and Investment, its in-house career services, and “breakout initiatives” in student professional development, entrepreneurship and real estate.

In spring 2014, entrepreneur and business leader David Nazarian made a transformative gift of $10 million to his alma mater, forming the basis of a $25 million fundraising initiative for business education at CSUN that will keep the university rising among the ranks of elite business schools and make access to a premier education possible. With more than $16 million raised to date, changes taking place in the renamed David Nazarian College of Business and Economics include the addition of innovative hardware and software for financial analysis, and upgrades to laboratories for consumer and focus-group research. Other enhancements include expanded career education and professional development services.

The Nazarian College is the nation’s ninth-largest business school. In addition to maintaining AACSB accreditation, the college and its programs have been recognized by a number of other prestigious organizations. In 2014, CSUN rose an impressive 32 positions in “U.S. News & World Report’s” national rankings of the “Best Part-Time MBA Programs,” the second-highest ranking among the 23 universities in the CSU system. The “Princeton Review” frequently ranks CSUN among the nation’s “Best Business Schools,” a distinction maintained in the 2015 edition announced in October. “Financial Planning” magazine has consistently included CSUN’s program for Certified Financial Planners among its “Great Schools for Financial Planning in America,” most recently in November.

“We are thrilled that AACSB International, the world’s premier business school accrediting organization, has recognized the quality and impact of CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics,” said Kenneth Lord, dean of the Nazarian College. “The extension of accreditation attests to our success as a leader in preparing students from diverse backgrounds for career fulfillment.”

To learn more about the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at CSUN, visit http://www.csun.edu/busecon. For more information about AACSB International accreditation, visit http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/.

April 15 will be here before we know it, and taxes will be due. California State University, Northridge business students hope to take some of the drudgery out of tax day by offering free tax preparation assistance to qualified members of the public.

CSUN’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides free assistance with state and federal tax preparation to low-income families and individuals — including non-English speakers, senior citizens and people with disabilities — starting Feb. 9 through March 28 at various locations throughout the San Fernando Valley.

“With the filing requirements for the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) starting this year, we expect our CSUN VITA sites to be very busy this filing season,” said accounting professor Catherine Jeppson, who oversees the program.

For a complete list of CSUN’s VITA locations — including sites in North Hills, Northridge, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Panorama City, Sylmar and Van Nuys — and the dates and times students will be available to prepare tax forms, visit VITA’s website at www.csun.edu/vita.

Due to the large number of individuals who require assistance, the maximum gross income per income tax return for participants has been set at $58,000. Those seeking assistance must bring their Social Security cards.

VITA does not prepare tax returns for people who are not required to file, unless a taxpayer must file in order to potentially receive funds from federal and/or state governments.

More than 200 CSUN student volunteers have completed intensive training to handle federal and state tax returns. In addition to serving the community, the VITA program, also allows students the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in their field of study. Among the diverse languages that VITA students speak are Spanish, Armenian and Russian.

Last year, CSUN students helped members of the public file 5,000 tax forms, saving them more than $2 million in tax preparation fees and refundable credits. These figures do not include all the money refunded to taxpayers.

Formed in 1971, CSUN’s VITA program, located in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, serves as a valuable community partner that is responsive to the culturally diverse San Fernando Valley. For more information about the program or to volunteer, call (818) 677-4519.

(L-R): Harvey and Harriet Bookstein and Rafi Efrat celebrate Efrat being named CSUN’s first Bookstein Chair in Taxation in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. Photo by Lee Choo.

California State University, Northridge honored accounting professor and institute director Rafi Efrat in January for his innovative leadership and expansion of the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation. CSUN named Efrat ’89 (Accounting Theory and Practice) as the university’s first Bookstein Chair in Taxation in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. This is the college’s first endowed chair within the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.

Launched in 2005 with the support of an endowment created by philanthropist and longtime public accountant Harvey Bookstein ’70 (Business Administration) and his wife, Harriet, the institute assists about 130 low-income taxpayers each year to resolve their disputes with the IRS — free of charge. The institute’s clinic opened in 2008 and is the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County.

“I did this as a way to give back to the school, but I had no idea there would be someone of the caliber of Rafi — someone who would take it to a whole other level,” Harvey Bookstein said. “What Rafi has done for the school is beyond expectation. He’s got the IRS believing in the institute, and other CPA firms believing in it. His passion is demonstrated every day on campus.”

Harriet Bookstein, who also attended CSUN, echoed those sentiments. “Rafi has done an amazing job of bringing the institute to this point and should be recognized for it,” she said.

The clinic grew out of the institute’s master of science in taxation program, and many of the graduate students are supported by scholarships from the institute’s endowment. Students work as a team, studying federal tax procedures and meeting with clients on campus, as well as researching tax issues.

The federal government recognizes the clinic’s community service. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has supported the program with matching grants since its inception. It awarded $70,000 in matching funds in 2014. In September, the IRS honored the contributions of the Bookstein Institute, presenting Efrat with its Excellence in Partnering Award.

The institute aims to empower students to reach their potential in the field of taxation and to fill the unmet needs of the underprivileged in the community, said Efrat, who has taught at CSUN for 15 years and has led the institute since 2006. The ability to serve the community through hands-on learning and experience in technical areas is a win-win for CSUN students and Los Angeles, he said.

“I feel very strongly about the mission and the purpose behind the institute, and what we do here,” Efrat said. “I’m deeply honored to be the inaugural name holder of the chair for the institute. It characterizes the success that one of our own alumni has exhibited in professional life. Harvey is an example of the best of what our students do when they leave us. To be associated with his legacy is a great honor.”

In 2014, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants recognized Efrat with its Outstanding Educator Award. The university also has celebrated him for his leadership and dedication to students, honoring Efrat with accolades including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Preeminent Publication Award, the Visionary Service Award and the Outstanding Service Award.

He mused that his work with the Bookstein Institute and the new title seem to bring things full circle: In his undergraduate days, Efrat worked as an intern at Bookstein’s accounting firm, RBZ.

Kenneth Lord, dean of the Nazarian College, praised Efrat as one of the leading scholars in his discipline.

“Rafi’s visionary leadership of the Bookstein Institute is a best practice in higher education in taxation and provides invaluable service to our students and the community,” Lord said. “I am thrilled that he is being recognized in this way through the generosity of CSUN’s dedicated alumnus and friend Harvey Bookstein.”

“Rafi makes our department and programs better, and impacts our students in a positive and significant way,” said Paul Lazarony, chair of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems.

The Bookstein Institute’s tax clinic is so popular that it has a waiting list, and most clients come to the program by referral from the IRS website or word of mouth. Graduate students also travel around Los Angeles presenting workshops in several languages. Popular topics include the earned-income tax credit and payroll tax FAQs for small-business owners. The students offer about 30 workshops each year, reaching about 700 Angelenos.

“Acknowledging Rafi’s great work in building the institute and the master’s in taxation more than warrants this chair and shows how important the Bookstein Institute is to the university — and there’s no one more deserving than Rafi,” said Matt Rinnert, senior director of development for the Nazarian College.

He also praised Bookstein’s engagement with CSUN students and commitment to give back to his alma mater. “As significant as this gift has been, what’s even more significant to the university has been the involvement of Harvey and Harriet with CSUN and their impact.”

Bookstein said Efrat’s bold leadership of the institute has given him high hopes that the program will continue to educate generations of future tax professionals and contribute even more to the community, especially with support and recognition from the IRS. Efrat echoed those hopes for the future.

“We’ve grown and established ourselves primarily in the San Fernando Valley, but there is clearly an unmet need beyond the immediate vicinity,” he said. “We hope to expand services so that we can serve other neighborhoods outside the San Fernando Valley, in the greater Los Angeles area.”

California State University, Northridge’s Small Business Institute graduate and undergraduate teams last month walked away with first-place prizes from the national Small Business Institute’s (SBI) Project of the Year competition for work done in the 2014 school year.

“We have had teams place in the ‘top three’ of the Small Business Institute’s Project of the Year competition since the 2011 SBI conference,” said Deborah Cours, director of graduate programs in CSUN’s
 David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.

“We believe in giving the students hands-on experience,” she said. “Our MBA students do small business consulting projects, often for small businesses and start-up, in lieu of a thesis or comprehensive exam. It’s a win-win for both the students and the community. Most of our new clients are gained by word of mouth because the clients are so happy with the results, they tell others.”

The institute began in 1972 as a cooperative pilot venture between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Texas Tech University. After the pilot year, approximately 20 leading universities and colleges joined in the innovative faculty-guided, student-based consulting program in 1973. In 1995, the SBA quit funding these projects; however CSUN’s small Business Institute thrives on donations provided mostly by satisfied former clients.

Under the guidance of a faculty member, student projects focus on critical aspects of business development such as: market feasibility/business plans, marketing plans, new venture startups and new product introduction plans.

“Students enter the workforce more confident,” said Cours. “They say things like, ‘I didn’t just take a course, I’ve actually done this work.’ Their knowledge goes beyond just what they’ve read in a book, it’s practical experience that allows them to hit the ground running.”

The MBA team won first place in Graduate Business Plan/Feasibility Study. The team consisted of students Corey Ballantoni, Linh Hal, Mike Lloyd, Kevin Sedaghat and Manpreet Singh, and was advised by Ali Behnezhad, professor and department chair of systems and operations management. This project was completed for client Ladan Behnia of ABC Nationwide, LLC.

The undergraduate team won first place for its comprehensive business plan for client Chella. Supervised by Professor Joy Griffin, the students included Briana Juarez, Jeremy Abraham, Melody Saadian, Mel Layesen and Shahzeen Bhurgri.

The annual conference of the national Small Business Institute, held in February not only awarded the two CSUN teams with first-place awards, but also recognized CSUN’s institute with a Showcase Award, identifying the program and its director for their consistent high-quality, professional work.

“It was a very exciting week,” noted Cours. “Our students have, year after year, been continually building our reputation and producing quality work. We are very honored to receive the Showcase award was very rewarding.”

Cours said the program “is a testament to the work of our recent award-winning students and their faculty advisers, including Kristen Walker, Melanie Williams, Lois Shelton and Joy Griffin.”

Cours was elected to the National SBI board of directors and joins Joy Griffin as a vice president.

For more information on SBI visit their website at http://www.smallbusinessinstitute.org/, and to learn more, or to be a client for the CSUN MBA students, please complete an application online at: http://www.csun.edu/busgrad/mba-consulting-project

Six faculty members have been selected for the California State University, Northridge Research Fellows Program for the 2014-2015 academic year in support of their research and academic development in their fields of study. Top (left to right): Susan Auerbach, Maia Beruchashvili, Vibhav Durgesh, Martha Escobar, Ellen Jarosz. Bottom (feft to right): Brian Burkhart, J’aime Morrison, Ani Nahapetian, Carrie Rothstein-Fisch,Hélène Rougier and Cristina Rubino.

Examining morals and ethics from an indigenous philosophy, cellphone security and how culture impacts problem-solving and learning are all topics under investigation by faculty selected for California State University, Northridge’s Research Fellows Program for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The program, founded in 2007, was created and is funded by the Office of the Provost — and administered by the university’s colleges and the Delmar T. Oviatt Library — to offer faculty an opportunity to pursue compelling research or a creative activity.

“The Research Fellows program’s significance is that it allows the selected faculty the time to expand their existing work or begin new creative projects both on their own and with colleagues across the research space,” said Marianne Afifi, former associate dean of the Oviatt Library and the program administrator. “CSUN, as well as the research community at large, benefit from these endeavors as they shed light on the exciting work that these faculty members embark on.”

Six research fellowships were awarded last year, based on the extent that the proposed activity explores creative or original concepts; the likelihood of achievement of the stated outcomes in the proposed time frame; the benefits of the research or creative activity to society; the organization of the proposal; the ability to disseminate the results widely to advance understanding; and the contribution to the field of study or across other fields.

Research fellows are required to present their findings at a colloquium in the fall. The selected research fellows and their respective projects are:

Brian Burkhart (College of Humanities) – Burkhart, faculty in the American Indian Studies program, will focus his research on the “American Indian/Indigenous Philosophy and Environmental Ethics.” His goal is to reshape the way society thinks about the environment and create a different context for how human beings think about what is moral in environmental ethics, animal ethics and the like. In presenting an indigenous philosophy of the environment, he must counter the deeply held stereotypes of native people’s relationship to the environment as something animalistic and magical, and not rational and reasonable. He has been teaching at CSUN since 2010.

J’aime Morrison (Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication) – Morrison, faculty in the Department of Theatre, will develop a theater piece based on the history of Los Angeles. Her research will involve “performative research,” a way of engaging with history, landscape and memory that includes texts, documents and images but also involves site visits to downtown Los Angeles and other historic areas. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2001.

Ani Nahapetian (College of Engineering and Computer Science) – Faculty in the Department of Computer Science, Nahapetian’s research will focus on “Mobile Sensing-Based Stealth Computer Monitoring.” She will examine mobile system security and use sensors, readily available on most mobile devices — namely accelerometers, microphones and ambient light sensors — for the recovery of users’ computer usage activity with keyboard, mouse and screen emanation sensing. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2011.

Carrie Rothstein-Fisch (Michael D. Eisner College of Education) – Rothstein-Fisch, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, will focus on “Connecting Cultures: Problem-solving in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).” It will examine the framework of individualism and collectivism in exploring how teachers can use knowledge of students’ home culture to shape their curricula. She will be using an ethnographic approach. She has been teaching at CSUN since 1986.

Hélène Rougier (College of Social and Behavioral Sciences) – Faculty in the Department of Anthropology, Rougier’s research is titled, “Saint-Césaire (France): Reassessment of a Prominent Neanderthal Site.” She plans to re-examine and sort the faunal collections from the site of Saint-Césaire, in southwest France, to check for the presence of Neanderthal remains that may have been overlooked. Her project has the potential to shed new light on the disappearance of Neanderthals and their replacement by early modern humans, our direct ancestors. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2009.

Cristina Rubino (David Nazarian College of Business and Economics) – Department of Management professor Rubino will focus her research on “What Do You Bring to the Table? Examining the Role of Personal Resources in Various Work Contexts.” Her goal is to expand employee well-being and diversity research by investigating how individual factors help employees manage stressful situations that can contribute to strain, burnout and turnover. She has been teaching at CSUN since 2011.

Internationally recognized muralist Judy Baca, visionary entrepreneur and telecommunications pioneer Paul Jennings, and acclaimed film and television director Donald Petrie have at least one thing in common — they are alumni of California State University, Northridge.

On Saturday, April 18, CSUN friends and supporters will celebrate the trio’s accomplishments during a special dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, during which Baca, Jennings and Petrie will be given one of the university’s highest honors — the Distinguished Alumni Award.

This year’s honorees join a notable group of past recipients that includes 2012 National Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki, former Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle, Curb Records Chairman and former Lt. Governor of California Mike Curb, CBS executive Michael Klausman, actors Teri Garr, Joan Chen and Cheech Marin, astronaut Scott Horowitz, Oscar-nominated producer Don Hahn and opera singer Carol Vaness.

“There are few better way to judge a university’s quality than that the successof its alumni,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “The alumni who have been singled out over the years to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award embody what CSUN does best — educate the thinkers, leaders and innovators who not only positively impact their chosen professions, but all of us. Moreover, alumni like Judy Baca, Paul Jennings and Donald Petrie makes us proud to be Matadors.”

Judy Baca

Baca, who graduated from what was then San Fernando Valley State College in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in art, is a world-renowned muralist who took her passion for color, Los Angeles and its youth and turned her paints into a movement.

She is the artistic director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) Cesar Chavez Digital Mural Lab at UCLA. One of her best-known works is “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,” which lines a flood-control channel in the East San Fernando Valley. Baca supervised the creation of the mural, the world’s longest at 2,274 feet, by more than 400 at-risk youth and their families. The California Endowment recently awarded SPARC a grant to preserve and restore the mural, originally painted in 1976.

In her early 20s, Baca founded the Citywide Mural Program. As she painted her first murals in the barrios of Los Angeles in the 1970s, Baca became known as “the mural lady.” She soon won worldwide attention and acclaim for painting the city’s urban freeways for the 1984 Summer Olympics. Her work, “Las Tres Marias,” is included in the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection.

In 2010, she completed the Cesar Chavez Memorial at San Jose State University and the Robert F. Kennedy monument at what is now Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools — formerly the Ambassador Hotel, the site of Kennedy’s assassination in 1968.

Paul Jennings

Entrepreneur Paul Jennings, founding partner and chief executive officer of Public Communications Services, Inc. (PCS), initially moved to California from his home in Long Island, N.Y., in 1980 to work in aerospace. After completing vocational training in aerospace manufacturing, Jennings was employed by Lockheed Martin’s Burbank Skunk Works. But layoffs in that industry forced him to rethink his plans, and Jennings found himself pursuing higher education. Courses at Los Angeles Valley College and College of the Canyons led to night classes in business at CSUN. He graduated in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Jennings worked his way through school selling long-distance phone plans, and the lessons he learned in his business classes helped him develop a strategy for delivering better and more integrated phone service to federal and state prisons. At the time of the sale of the company in 2010, PCS was the third-largest provider of inmate telephone systems in the country. In 1994, after the devastating Northridge earthquake, Jennings formed PCS Development, an active real estate developer in Southern California that has built, managed and owned more than 4,000 multi-family units. Much of Jennings’ initial purchases were projects where buildings were severely damaged in the quake. Jennings had a meaningful impact creating economic opportunities in the Northridge community.

Jennings’ involvement with CSUN did not end with his graduation. He has remained an active Matador alumnus, making generous contributions to the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. In 2013, Jennings announced a $500,000 challenge grant, matching contributions one-to-one. In addition to financial contributions, Jennings donates his time, participating in the annual Professor for a Day event, serving on the college’s advisory board and regularly mentoring students. In recognition of his service, college officials invited Jennings to speak during graduation in 2012 and awarded him the Volunteer Service Award in 2014.

Donald Petrie

Acclaimed film director Donald Petrie, a member of the board of the Directors Guild of America, is best known for such films as “Grumpy Old Men” with Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Ann-Margaret; “Miss Congeniality” with Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine and Benjamin Bratt; “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey; and “Welcome to Mooseport” with Ray Romano and Gene Hackman. He is also credited with providing Julia Roberts with her breakthrough role in his first film as a director, the award-winning “Mystic Pizza.”

After graduating from CSUN in 1976 with a bachelor of arts in theatre, Petrie worked for a number of years as an actor, appearing on television shows such as “The Waltons” and “Eight is Enough.” A job directing a successful state production of Albert Innaurato’s “Gemini” sparked his interest in directing TV and film.

He spent two years at the American Film Institute, then a year as “a fly on the wall” on any TV show that would let him. That experience led to his first job as a television director for Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories.”

A tour Petrie took of CSUN’s film program nearly a decade ago led to an invitation to host the university’s annual senior film showcase. He was then invited to serve as artist-in-residence for a year, and hehas mentored senior film students for several years. He is spending this spring as a faculty member in CSUN’s film and theatre programs.

The 17th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards was a celebration of what’s possible with a California State University, Northridge education, as graduates who went on to successful careers in art, entertainment and entrepreneurship were honored on April 18 at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village.

Judy Baca ’69, M.A.’80 (Art), Paul Jennings ’85 (Marketing) and Donald Petrie ’76 (Theatre) joined the ranks of more than 50 people who have been recognized as examples of those who have taken the lessons they learned at CSUN and elevated themselves to great heights.

One of those past honorees was the evening’s Master of Ceremonies Bill Griffeth ’80 (Journalism). The CNBC anchor walked onstage to the strains of U2’s “Beautiful Day,” and in his opening remarks he pointed out that the Irish supergroup’s first concert in the United States was at the Reseda Country Club in 1981, a short distance from CSUN.

Griffeth talked about his longstanding association with the university, setting the tone for the evening with brief introductions for each of the honorees. He also paid homage to those who have worked behind the scenes to put on the event and do so much for the university and its students, a contingent of which were in attendance, serving as a reminder of what is most important to CSUN. Griffeth also had a lighter moment, joining the “selfie” craze by taking photos with the audience to post on social media.

CSUN Alumni Association President Francine Oschin ’84 (Journalism), ’85 (Mass Communication) then took the podium to note that the university has produced more than 300,000 alumni since its establishment in 1958. Oschin said that one in 20 San Fernando Valley residents attended CSUN, and that one in 10 employees throughout the state of California are CSUN alumni, showing the breadth of CSUN’s reach. This year, the 23-campus CSU system will honor its Class of 3 Million, which celebrates the combined number of graduates for all the campuses in the system.

Following Oschin to the stage was CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, who made a comedic jab at Griffeth for taking those selfies with a Blackberry. Harrison then presented a long list of achievements that have taken place at the university during the past year.

“CSUN is the third-largest university in California, graduating 10,000 new alumni every year and adding nearly $1 billion back into the region and economy annually,” Harrison said. “Each year, we do more with less state support. We are among the most efficient universities in the world, but we can’t do this alone. Support from people like you ensures that we can continue providing life-changing opportunities for so many students each year. By giving to CSUN, you’re not only investing in us – you’re investing in yourself, the region, California and the nation, providing a base for everyone to rise.”

​Then came time for the three honorees who have risen to prominence in their respective fields.

Baca noted that when she first started at what was then called San Fernando Valley State College in the mid 1960s, there was a “Mason-Dixon Line between Pacoima and Northridge,” and that the campus hardly resembled the diverse student population it is today. Yet Baca pursued her passion for art, and it came through in the world’s largest mural The Great Wall of Los Angeles, which she completed in 1976. She did so by working with at-risk youth, and continues to give back to communities through her art while helping young people find a voice and a purpose in their lives.

“The idea that I would actually become an educated person, that I would become a distinguished professor, that I would, in fact, put this education to use that would bring me back to Pacoima, bring me back to the communities and not separate me from them, it’s been a great journey – a great gift of a life,” Baca said. “And I really owe a lot of it to the fact that CSUN made an education possible for a poor kid who had to work herself through school.”

Jennings overcame a learning disability and eventually began to figure out what career he wanted to pursue while taking courses at College of the Canyons and Los Angeles Valley College before coming to CSUN, which he attended at night while working. He would later become a success in business as a founding partner and chief executive officer of telecommunications leader Public Communications Services, Inc. (PCS), and later form PCS Development, an active real estate developer in Southern California. Jennings has also been active CSUN donor for many years.

“Northridge, to me, represents opportunity and accessibility,” Jennings said. “I was working full time; the reason I was able to get a degree was because they had a night school program that really accommodated people who were working. It just intensifies my deep devotion to this school. The idea of giving back and being involved is everything. Northridge is a school that’s accessible to kids who might otherwise not go to school.”

Petrie, who directed major motion pictures like Miss Congeniality, Mystic Pizza and Grumpy Old Men added a lighter tone to the evening, even pratfalling when he stepped on stage to be honored. But he was plenty serious when he talked about how he took the lessons he learned in the theatre department to move to the director’s chair when all he wanted to do was become an actor. This semester he is working with student filmmakers on their senior projects.​

“I get as much out of it as they get out of it,” Petrie said. “Life is constantly changing. It’s not that college ends and we stop learning. I’m learning today, and I’m learning from them. I’m learning about the tastes of my current audience. It’s a two-way street, really.

“The best filmmakers are people who have something to say – those who merely focus on film can only regurgitate other film. They need to get the depth and breadth of the entire universe, which is why I love a college like CSUN. If you’re a film major there, you’re still taking the core classes from all departments and getting those experiences that may not seem like they can help you at the time. But they will, in ways that you can’t imagine.”

Charles “Chuck” Noski was 17 years old in 1969 when he embarked upon what would be a lifelong relationship with California State University, Northridge, which was then known as San Fernando Valley State College.

Working two to three part-time jobs at a time as an undergraduate, Noski earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1973, and a master’s degree in accounting in 1995. He would ultimately be awarded an honorary doctorate in 2007. The lessons he learned at CSUN helped him gain the business acumen that would lead to a brilliant career: Following nearly 20 years with “Big Four” accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, Noski went on to hold senior executive positions at Bank of America, Northrop Grumman Corporation, AT&T and Hughes Electronics.

In recent years, he has also served on the boards of directors of companies such as Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Avon Products and Priceline. In 2002, the CSUN Alumni Association honored Noski as a Distinguished Alumnus, and in 2011 the CSUN Foundation Board of Directors recognized Noski as an Emeritus Director for life following his many years of service on that board.

When he returned to campus as a Deloitte partner to do recruiting, what he saw at the business college impressed him. “CSUN students were better prepared and had a stronger foundation to go out into the world and pursue their careers,” he said.

Noski and his wife, Lisa, have been actively involved with CSUN for many years, supporting a variety of educational and other initiatives, including the Valley Performing Arts Center. Most recently, they created the Noski Family Scholarship, which will annually grant four accounting students who have a solid grasp on the direction of their future careers the opportunity to pursue their business education at CSUN.

The couple chose accounting majors as their initial focus because of their respective backgrounds — both Chuck and Lisa are CPAs and were the first in their families to graduate from college. “Accounting is really the basis of all business,” Lisa said. “We felt so fortunate to have had the experience and chance to attend college, and we wanted to help other people have that same chance.”

What Noski remembers most about his own education at CSUN’s business college (now the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics) are the relationships he built with his professors.

“They had been out in the real world,” Chuck said. “They could help prepare you for the competition and business environment you’d encounter. They were great teachers — they were not only very adept with the subject matter, but they knew how to communicate it. They really cared about their students, and that showed inside and outside the classroom. To this day I still stay in touch with some of those professors.”

Noski also fondly recalls his time as a saxophonist for CSUN’s marching band, playing at Devonshire Downs where the school’s football team then played its games.

“The music program at CSUN was amazing,” he said. “We came out onto the field like a big rock band. It was like being on a stage — the stage just happened to be green and 100 yards long — and the crowd in the stands loved the contemporary music we played.”

But what he is most grateful for are the opportunities his CSUN education afforded him. “When I think about the chance to give back to CSUN and its students today,” he said, “I really come back to the word ‘opportunity.’ We’re all different. We all have different strengths, different weaknesses and face different challenges. We come from different backgrounds. But what we all deserve, I think, is an opportunity.”

Although the couple has contributed to other causes, they said that gifts to CSUN leave them with an uplifting effect.

“I’ve seen the impact on students. I’ve seen the enthusiasm of professors to have the resources, tools and capabilities to do an even better job of being a teacher,” Chuck said. “For us, we hope this new scholarship will be one of the best returns on investment.

“You can go to classes. You can take notes. You can regurgitate facts on tests, but that’s not learning. My experience both as a student here and later recruiting students from the campus was that the students here understood the material, the theory and the reality of what they were getting into as they began their careers. When I think about my own education and what I’ve been able to accomplish in my career, it really started here.”

California State University, Northridge’s marketing professors Kristen Walker and Tina Kiesler have been awarded a $193,000 grant from the Digital Trust Foundation to support an online privacy campaign for middle-school aged youth.

The grant allows Walker and Kiesler the ability to reinforce skills CSUN students learn in the marketing department’s interactive minor, which debuted in fall 2014. It is one of the only two Online Privacy Campaigns for Youth funded through the Foundation.

“We are so pleased the Digital Trust Foundation awarded us the grant to help promote online privacy, safety and security,” said Walker. “Our grant will allow CSUN students to ‘pay it forward’ to future generations, working closely with middle-school aged youth to create and implement a privacy education campaign about the potential harm of sharing information online.”

During this year-long project, at least a dozen CSUN students will work with Los Angeles-area middle-school-aged youth to research online information sharing behaviors and attitudes.

“We’re very excited that we can take the material we’ve been sharing with CSUN students in our marketing department’s electives and our new interactive marketing minor and extend digital literacy to youth in the Los Angeles area,” said Kiesler. “This is also a great opportunity for our CSUN students to work with the community and share their own growing expertise for the benefit of others.”

Together, the CSUN students and middle-school-aged youth will develop an educational marketing campaign designed to enhance digital literacy and responsible online behavior. The goal is to use marketing to educate and encourage change – increasing digital information literacy while developing critical thinking and creative communication skills.

The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics serves more than 6,000 undergraduates with a full range of business programs. The Nazarian College also offers a Master of Business Administration program and specialized Master of Science programs in accountancy and taxation. The college is recognized for excellence by multiple external organizations. Its accreditation by AACSB International places it among the top 5 percent of global business degree-granting institutions.

A team of California State University, Northridge marketing students received national recognition from the American Marketing Association (AMA) for developing an “Outstanding Chapter Plan.”

The Matadors’ AMA 2014-15 executive board, which was responsible for the plan, sent five AMA members to the National AMA Intercollegiate conference in New Orleans to receive their well-deserved award.

“We were very excited to attend the conference this year,” said Tannaz Nourparvar, senior marketing student and the AMA chapter’s new president. “It was our plan to show everyone what CSUN is all about.”

Nourparvar was one of five students who attended the conference and received the award on behalf of the CSUN AMA chapter.

“Winning that award was such an overwhelming feeling,” Nourparvar said. “It was especially a big deal for us, being that we are such a small chapter in comparison to the other universities there.” There was a record of 186 universities in attendance, including Fordham University, Northeastern University and University of Iowa from the “Outstanding Chapter Plan” division.

Kristen Walker, marketing professor for CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, accompanied AMA executive board members Andrea Nieto, Edith Gomez, Nanki Singh, Wezley Masangkay and Nourparvar to the New Orleans conference.

“This is the first time that we’ve gone [to the intercollegiate conference] since I was an undergraduate here, a long time ago,” she said.

Walker took the students with the financial support of the Nazarian College dean’s office.

“Each year, every chapter submits a chapter plan and an annual report to be considered a qualified chapter,” Walker said. “This teaches the students how to behave like a business and a professional organization.”

Once the chapter plan and annual report are submitted, a group of faculty advisor volunteers go through and evaluate each submission. This year, CSUN AMA won the “Outstanding Chapter Plan,” thanks to its executive board.

“This award reinforces the fact that the American Marketing Association is really unique, because it is a professional organization,” Walker said. “It’s a nice chance for students on campus to be involved in something that is social and academic — but at the same time, professional.”

With the new award in hand, Walker and the AMA members would like to continue taking students to the conference annually.

“Our hope is to get more alumni to fund us,” Walker said. “When we talked to the top groups at the conference, we found that a lot of them are sponsored by alumni — so that would be fabulous.”

The AMA 37th Annual International Collegiate Conference helps marketing students take their careers to the next level through professional development, cutting-edge career advice, competitions and networking.

This year’s conference hosted 1,481 students, 138 faculty advisors and a record 186 universities. AMA collegiate chapters came to celebrate their successes and learn best-practice chapter-management techniques. Students and AMA faculty advisors alike networked with their peers.

Read more about the National AMA Intercollegiate Conference.